Langdridge, Darren
(2005).
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Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which a divided self may be actively cultivated for thrill in sadomasochistic scenes. In The Divided Self Laing (1959/1990) presents an existential theory of schizophrenia and personal alienation describing a process where there is a separation of self/body amongst the ontologically insecure outsider. Whilst Laing’s theory concerns an experience of deep despair, van Deurzen-Smith (1991) argues that the theory should be reconceptualised as a way of understanding the existential anxiety common to all human experience rather than just the extreme experience of psychosis. In this paper I draw on some of Laing’s ideas to look at the way in which the splits between the self/body might be deliberately cultivated during sadomasochistic sex scenes amongst ontologically secure individuals. In addition, I explore the ways in which ‘petrification’ (Laing, 1959/1990) and ‘the look’ (Sartre, 1943/2003) might also be key parts of the sadomasochistic experience.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Copyright Holders: | 2005 Not known |
| ISSN: | 1467-2472 |
| Academic Unit/School: | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Psychology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) |
| Interdisciplinary Research Centre: | Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG) |
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| Item ID: | 8372 |
| Depositing User: | Darren Langdridge |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Jul 2007 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Nov 2016 17:13 |
| URI: | http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/8372 |
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